Tencent promotes medical AI to sustain anti-epidemic fight

BEIJING -- Chinese tech giant Tencent has utilized its artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the medical sector to aid the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

Data from the firm showed that so far it has owned more than 300 patents in the medical AI field, ranging from medical auxiliary diagnosis to medical record management and risk monitoring to medical imaging.

While promoting a digital medical solution amid the global battle, the Shenzhen-based enterprise open sourced its COVID-19 self-triage assistant, an online tool backed by AI technology, to help people around the world conduct a self-assessment about potential coronavirus symptoms.

As of the end of March, Tencent published over 370,000 patent applications in major countries and regions, with more than 14,000 patents authorized around the world.

Earlier this year, the company also developed a platform WeCounty that serves people in the country's rural areas, providing villagers with services including online medical consultation, urgent notice releases and free online courses.

Through the platform, villagers can also find out whether they had taken the same trains with patients infected with COVID-19.